622 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
era, as Cyclopteris and Neuropterous; the Club-mosses by the Psilophyton intro- 
duced at an earlier time, and also by those giant vegetable organisms that pre- 
vailed tosuch an extent during the following age—-the Sigillarids and Lepido- 
dendrids ; and the Equisetae by Calamites and Asterophyllites. 
And here, in this early age, and certainly long before we should expect them 
according to the hypothesis of evolution, first appear true gymnospermous trees 
(Confers), in the genus Protaxites. The true coniferous character of these trees 
is proved by the well known gymnospermous tissue and concentric rings of 
growth. 
These were not simply shrubs, but trees of good size; some having been 
found eighteen inches, and others even as much as three feet in diameter. 
It seems somewhat difficult to understand how, according to the doctrine of 
evolution, these highly differentiated organisms should appear at so early a 
period, and with so little preparation, in any of the forms that are known to have 
preceded them. These advanced forms would seem to indicate that if produced 
by evolution, it must have operated by “jumps” and not by ‘‘gradual modifica- 
tion,” or as some have it, ‘‘That the steps of evolution were just at this point 
somewhat rapid.” 
While such assumptions are purely gratuitous, it is admitted they are abso- 
lutely essential to the existence of the theory. A large number of Devonian 
plants have been found; fifty or more species having been discovered in Nova 
Scotia alone. The sudden appearance of such a numerous and highly developed 
flora at the beginning of this age, is difficult to account for in harmony with the 
doctrine of evolution, except by the position assumed above of extraordinarily 
rapid advance at special times, or of a lapse of immense time between the close 
of the Silurian and the beginning of the Devonian ages. Either of these hy- 
potheses might answer, but unfortunately neither has any foundation of proof on 
which to rest. 
(Zo be continued. ) 
INS IOIEKOQUN| OI, 
ANCIENT ECLIPSES. 
WM. DAWSON, SPICELAND, IND. 
EXTRACTS. 
* * *k ** *k * *K KO * * *k * 
Our most ancient record of an observed eclipse is found in Chinese history 
as having occurred in the reign of Emperor Chow-Kang. A little uncertainty 
still exists as to the exact time when this solar eclipse took place, but the most 
probable date is that of October 13, 2127 B. C.—about 4,007 years ago. On 
